Laptop Repair

I have a Gateway P-6860fx. The operating system is Windows Vista. It has two fans. When I look at the fans when the computer is upside down, the fan on the left side does not spin. The fan on the right side spins.

The laptop is out of warranty

I want to get the laptop repaired. Should I send it back to Gateway or should I find local repair shop to fix it. What should I look for when I go to a local repair to make sure they are capable of fixing the laptop? Certification?

Please remember that it is not a necessity for both fans to be running all the time. Most of the time, one fan is for the CPU and the other is for the graphic card. So if you are not playing games or doing anything that can stress the graphic card, probably you won't see it spinning. So first thing you need to make sure is if the fan is really faulty.

Secondly, although the warranty is over, it's always a wise choice to send it to the manufacturer to fix your laptop; it may cost a little bit more, but it's worth to know that your laptop is in good hands.

I have downloaded Speedfan and HWMonitor. These softwares do not tell me anything about my fans.

Two and a half months ago, the laptop shut down while I was using it.

A week ago, I used the laptop for 7 hours and I shutdown. Three hours later, I booted up the computer. After it booted up, the screen was split in half. The icons of the desktop were on the top half of the screen and the same icons of the desktop were on the bottom of the screen. I shutdown. A minute later, I booted up again. Everything looked normal.

Since this incident, I have not stayed on the computer more than a hour. Based on Speedfan, within a half hour, the GPU temperature is hot. There is a symbol of fire next to the temperature.